Christian Living on Loss

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Romans 5:3-4, Lamentations 3:31-32, Psalm 73:26, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 61:3

How shall my heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?

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Author

Mal McKissock and Dianne McKissock

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Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23, John 14:27, Revelation 21:4, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 147:3

One of the greatest needs of all bereaved people is to have access to someone who will take a risk and be involved—someone who is not afraid of intense feelings, but who will encourage their expressio...

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Love Songs All Address God

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Psalm 42:1-2, 1 Samuel 1:9-18, Psalm 63:1, Luke 15:11-32, Lamentations 3:19-24, Romans 8:22-23, Exodus 2:23-25, Hosea 3:1, John 20:11-18

In 1998, Nick Cave*, an Australian rock/pop artist, was asked by the Vienna Poetry Academy to give a series of talks on the nature of song-writing. A year later he gave a slightly revised version of t...

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Author

Mary Jane Moffat

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Healing

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Lamentations 3:22-23, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:28, Isaiah 43:18-19, James 1:2-4, Philippians 1:6

Recovery is not a process we can will, but consists of experiencing many small deaths, the passing of significant anniversaries, until our identity is solid and natural in the pronoun “I.”

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Most holy God, we continuously lose

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

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Ephesians 2:8-9, Lamentations 3:22-23, John 1:14, Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 46:10

Most holy God, we continuously lose sight of your sovereign rule over our world and in our lives, and our failing vision obscures every aspect of our lives. So we come to you for grace. Forgive us for...

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Author

Thomas Fuller

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Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:12, Psalm 77:11, Ecclesiastes 12:1, Lamentations 3:21-23, Psalm 103:2

Leftovers in their less visible form are called memories. Stored in the refrigerator of the mind and the cupboard of the heart.

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Author

Jennie Allen

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Scripture

Hebrews 11:1, Romans 15:13, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 5:3-5, Lamentations 3:21-23

Doubt steals hope. And with no hope, everything that matters doesn’t feel as important anymore.

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Author

Pearl S. Buck

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Scripture

Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:22-23, Romans 15:13, John 6:51, Jeremiah 17:7-8, Psalm 146:5

To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death.

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Author

George Herbert

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Scripture

Hosea 14:7, Jeremiah 31:25, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 23:3, Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 51:10, Ezekiel 36:26

Who would have thought my shrivel’d heart Could have recovered greenness?

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While God’s love never fails, our love does fail.

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Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 103:8-12, Romans 5:8, Romans 8:1

Leader: While God’s love never fails, our love does fail. All too often, our experience of love is confused, distorted, and disappointing. That is due to the sin in the world and the sin in our own ...

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Author

R. W. Church

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Scripture

Jeremiah 29:11, Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:21-23, Psalm 33:18, Psalm 71:14, Zechariah 9:12

Hope, never destroyed, however overthrown, never obscured even amid the storm and dust of ruin, is the prominent characteristic of the Old Testament.

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Author

Rainer Maria Rilke

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Scripture

Psalm 23:4, Philippians 3:13-14, Lamentations 3:22-23, Isaiah 43:2, 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, Psalm 30:5, Romans 5:3-5

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.

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Author

Dick Ryan

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Scripture

Hebrews 4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Lamentations 3:22-23, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 147:3, James 4:10

Healing begins when, in the face of our own darkness, we recognize our helplessness and surrender our need for control… we face what is, and we ask for mercy.

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When your Good Christian World Falls Apart

Author

Tammy Maltby

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Scripture

1 Kings 19:1–18, Job 3:42 , Lamentations 3:17–26, Luke 15:11–32 , 2 Corinthians 12:7–10, Psalm 34:18

In her memoir, Confessions of a Good Christian Girl, Tammy describes the internal turmoil she experienced trying to be a good, rule-following Christian who had unexpectedly built an entire life arou...

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Almighty God, we have failed to trust

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 46:1, Isaiah 41:10, Lamentations 3:22-23, Philippians 4:6-7, Romans 8:28

Almighty God, we have failed to trust you. Overwhelmed by the pains of life, we have taken charge and pushed you aside. O God, be gracious to us. Remind us of your daily mercies and redemptive power t...

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Author

Peter Kreeft

Keywords

Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 103:10-12, Romans 3:23-24, Titus 3:4-5, John 15:13, Ephesians 2:4-5

We sinned for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love, and He saved us for no reason but an incomprehensible excess of love.

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Author

William Stringfellow

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Scripture

Luke 23:39-43, Romans 4:18-21, Luke 15:11-32, Lamentations 3:22-24, Romans 8:24-25

Hope is reliance upon grace in the face of death: the issue is that of receiving life as a gift, not as a reward and not as a punishment; hope is living constantly, patiently, expectantly, resiliently...

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Your mercies are new every morning, oh

Author

Austin D. Hill

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Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 51:10-12, 1 John 1:9, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 40:31

Your mercies are new every morning, oh Lord. You renew us on a regular basis. Every day we fall short. You have made us righteous through the power of Jesus, but take Jesus’ sacrifice for granted. Ple...

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Author

Annie Johns Flint

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Scripture

Exodus 16:1-36, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30, Matthew 14:13-21, 1 Kings 17:7-16, Lamentations 3:22-23, Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere that day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, Our Father’s full giving has only begun. His lo...

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Almighty God, you have surprised us

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 13:44, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 139:7-10, 1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Luke 2:1-20, John 4:7-26, John 21:1-14, Luke 24:13-35, Matthew 17:1-8, Luke 2:25-38, Luke 1:35-38, Hebrews 13:2, Isaiah 43:19

Almighty God, you have surprised us with your presence in unexpected ways. In the expectations of our routine, we have missed the treasure that you place before us. We come to worship you in community...

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“No Fishing Allowed”

Author

Jerry Bridges

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 7:15-20, 1 John 1:9, Hebrews 10:26, Romans 8:1, 1 John 1:9, Lamentations 3:22-23

He hurls our sins overboard. What a picture of the way God treats our sins. Corrie ten Boom, a dear saint of the last century, used to say, “And then God put up a sign saying, `No fishing allowed.”‘ W...

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Lord and God, you know what we are

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:3-4, Romans 8:34, Isaiah 53:4-5, Hebrews 7:25, Lamentations 3:22-23

Lord and God, you know what we are about to say in prayer, you know what we ought to say, and even what we need to say but cannot. Our sins trouble us, though they don’t trouble us as much as they sho...

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Lord, we confess that we do not love

Author

Jacob Traeger

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Scripture

Isaiah 57:15, Psalm 42:1-2, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Matthew 18:3-4, Lamentations 3:22-23, Matthew 5:3-12, Luke 19:1-10

Lord, we confess that we do not love you with our whole hearts And we do not love our neighbour as ourselves. We seek the blessing of others Rather than the blessing of your grace We seek comfort in w...

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Author

J. R. R. Tolkein

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Scripture

Jeremiah 29:11, Lamentations 3:21-23, 1 Peter 1:3-4, Psalm 27:13-14, Isaiah 40:31

It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. (Spoken by Galadriel)

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Adapted from Lamentations 3:22-23 (Strachan)

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23

Leader: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; People: his mercies never come to an end; Leader: they are new every morning; People: great is your faithfulness. Great is Your love. Great i...

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Author

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:12, Psalm 77:11, Ecclesiastes 12:1, Lamentations 3:21-23, Psalm 103:2

What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.

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Loving God, you show us grace and

Author

Chip Hardwick

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Scripture

Micah 6:8, Hebrews 12:28, Ephesians 2:4-5, Colossians 3:13, Lamentations 3:22-23, Luke 15:11-32, Jonah 3:1-10

Loving God, you show us grace and mercy, again and again and again. You shower gifts on us that we could never earn, and you are slow to punish us when we most deserve it. All too often, we forget to ...

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The Doubts of a Church Planter

Author

Peter Chin

Keywords

Scripture

1 Kings 19:1–18 , Exodus 3:1–12, Lamentations 3:19–26 , Luke 7:11–17, 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 , Psalm 73:21–26

In this first-person memoir, Pastor Peter Chin shares a story that most pastors can probably relate to, the reality vs the expectation of a church-planter or even the pastor of an established church: ...

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Adapted from Lamentations 3:22-24 and Ephesians 2:11-22

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-24, Ephesians 2:11-22

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness. ‘The Lord is our portion,’ says our souls, ‘therefore, we will hop...

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Author

Fredrick Langbridge

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Hebrews 11:1, Isaiah 40:31, Romans 5:3-5, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 42:11, Philippians 4:8

Because of this we have hope: Two men look out through the same bars One sees mud, one sees stars.

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